The present invention is in a method for the manufacture of a deep-bed wheel rim from a hollow cylindrical metal preform and apparatus for the practice of the method.
A method and apparatus for production of a deep-bed wheel rim from a preform are disclosed, for example, in the German periodical "Werkstatt und Betrieb" 103 (1970) 10, p. 792. According to the known method, a hollow cylindrical preform rolled from a strip of steel is fed to a set of machines consisting of three individual units. The first machine preliminarily shapes the preform. The second machine completes the bed of the rim and at the same time turns the bead seat at an angle. The third machine shapes the two bead flanges, the rim being reversed and remounted after the first bead flange is shaped. The rim is then gauged on a special machine to improve accuracy of production.
The known method has numerous disadvantageous because it involves a complex procedure with many dead periods due to the frequent remounting of the workpiece, is labor intensive in set-up time and offers little flexibility for the production of different rim sizes. Such drawbacks result in relatively long production time and high costs.
An object of the present invention is to provide a method for the production of deep-bed wheel rims which offers a improved and more advantageous procedure with less dead time, less technical complexity and greater flexibility. Another object is to provide an apparatus for the practice of the method.